Royal rumble! Prince Andrew ‘faces losing summer holiday home’ over King Charles’ move
After spending years holidaying at the late Queen’s beloved Balmoral Estate, Prince Andrew reportedly faces losing his spot at the home this summer as King Charles plans to keep it open for two weeks longer to tourists to raise extra cash.
Prince Andrew reportedly faces losing his summer holiday home.
The shamed royal, 63, who resigned from public roles in 2020 in the wake of claims he had sex with billionaire Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre, would usually take a break at the private Scottish retreat of Balmoral with his ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, 63, and their daughters Princesses Beatrice, 34, and Eugenie, 33.
But the Daily Mail has reported the home – where the Queen died in September aged 96 – could be off limits as King Charles is apparently planning to keep the estate open to the public for an extra two weeks than normal.
An insider in Scotland said: “This will bring significant new revenue into the estate. It may, however, have the effect of annoying the Duke of York, who has treasured his time in Royal Deeside ever since he was a little boy.”
The late Queen would traditionally start her summer holidays at her beloved Balmoral on the last weekend of July.
But under new plans the Mail reports Charles, 74, is planning to keep it open until 16 August.
It is understood the king will continue his tradition of spending the first week of August at Mey castle in Caithness, which was the former home of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
He may then head to Birkhall, his home on the 50,000-acre Balmoral Estate – bought by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert in 1852 – while he waits for the castle to close to tourists.
Balmoral costs around £3million a year to run and opening it to tourists from April to the end of July attracts more than 70,000 visitors.
The Queen invited Andrew to stay with his daughters and their families each summer after his former wife Sarah stayed close to her in the wake of her 1996 divorce from Andrew and despite a frosty relationship with her late husband Prince Philip.
There are also said to be tensions between Charles Andrew over his request for his brother and Fergie to leave Royal Lodge and move into Frogmore Cottage – the much smaller former home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Friends of Andrew’s told the Mail he has no intention of leaving Royal Lodge, on which he 75-year lease and spent millions on renovations.
It has also been reported Andrew and Sarah won’t be kicked out of the home as she recovers from her breast cancer surgery, after recently undergoing an eight-hour mastectomy procedure.
Royal sources told Page Six it was to give her “time to recover” from the “gruelling” operation, with Sarah saying it is now time to “heal and nurture” herself.
